Police cut off wireless signals during a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Egypt, as well as during protests last year in San Francisco.

But McCarthy says Chicago Police do not want to block wireless communications, and is questioning why there even needs to be an ordinance forbidding it.

“Those strategies that police have used in the past are not the type of strategies that we’re going to be using here in Chicago,” McCarthy said. “If there are a number of people who are engaged in criminal activity among the, hopefully, thousands of peaceful demonstrators who just want to articulate their First Amendment right to free speech – which we support – we will go in and extract and arrest people who are committing crimes.”

By contrast, activist groups have been invoking one of the most infamous incidents in Chicago Police history as they call on demonstrators to come to Chicago.